People use a megaphone and hold an American flag upside down to show distress during a 'Rage Against The Regime March Against Immigration Cruelty' protest against the increase in immigrant detainments outside 26 Federal Plaza, which houses a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) processing center, in New York, New York, USA, 11 August 2025. The US Department of Homeland Security is increasing recruitment and detainments to meet the Trump administration's goal of hiring 10,000 new ICE agents and deporting a million people a year. (Keystone/EPA/Sarah Yenesel)

American civil society in Geneva lambasts US for snubbing UN rights review. Scores of human rights campaigners travelled to Geneva to lambast Washington for dismissing the Human Rights Council’s flagship state review, accusing it of evading international scrutiny.

🇳🇬DISPLACEMENT SURGES IN NIGERIA. Escalating violence and fighting in northern Nigeria have driven 66,000 people into Niger since January 2026, adding to the growing humanitarian needs in a country already hosting more than half a million refugees, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday. Several hundred have also sought refuge in Benin.

Calls for international support. “The silence around this emergency is deafening,” Dominique Hyde, UNHCR’s director of external relations, told reporters in Geneva. He said the agency needed around $11.4 million to bolster its response across Niger, Nigeria, and Benin.

The situation is also exacerbated by funding and staff cuts. Hyde reported that the agency has only 10 staff members on site, compared to 40 last year.

Climate overlap. Insecurity isn’t the only issue refugees and internally displaced people are facing. Climate issues are affecting the community, with drought causing a severe lack of grain production, raising serious implications for food security, UNHCR said. Nigeria is amongst the six tropical nations most affected by El Niño – expected to cause an estimated additional 31,400 heat-related deaths in the country by February of next year.

🇸🇩DRONE CHILD CASUALTIES IN SUDAN. Drone attacks and droughts are closing in on Sudan’s children, Unicef spokesperson James Elder told Palais reporters, with drone strikes accounting for two-thirds, or 230 out of a total of 410 children killed or injured this year.

What they said. “The suffering of children in Sudan has been met with silence: we are calling to stop the flow of weapons that are killing children,” said Unicef’s James Elder to reporters on Tuesday, in an escalation of attacks on power grids and water plants that are disrupting access to basic services.

A deadly combination. On top of war, Sudan is facing a severe climate crisis. Drought brought on by El Niño now covers more than half of Sudan, damaging crops and increasing food insecurity. With the harvest suffering, “five out of six children are expected to have malnutrition,” reported Elder.

— Agostina Cerisoli